Chapter 2606 Investigation
Chapter 2606 Investigation
Tigranth waited until Kotal finished translating, then nodded toward Fang Heng before quickly striding off.
They retreated all the way to the periphery of the Corrupted Bone Swamp?
Kotal thought this was bad and glanced cautiously at Fang Heng, saying, "Fang Heng, things don't seem good. Maybe we should also retreat for now."
"Mm..."
Fang Heng responded with a soft hum, deep in thought, when suddenly, game notifications began flashing rapidly on his retina.
[Hint: The player has triggered the optional side mission-Mutated Disaster.] Nôv(el)B\\jnn
Mission name: Mutated Disaster.
Mission description: Mutated Disaster creatures have appeared on the front lines of the Dark Clan, undergoing rapid mutations that greatly enhance their strength. The death realm's joint team is quickly retreating. You may attempt to go to the front lines to gather more information.
Mission requirements: Go to the front lines, find and kill mutated disaster creatures (0/100), and an elite-level creature (0/1).
Mission reward: Death realm faction favorability rating increase, faction contribution points +500,000.
[Hint: Detected that the player has a research institute level higher than Level10. The player has triggered a special mission-Unknown Disaster.]
Mission name: Unknown Disaster.
Mission type: Special precursor mission.
Mission difficulty: S
Mission description: This isn't the first time you've heard of the term Disaster, but it's the first time you've encountered and fought one yourself. When facing the terrifying Eternal Disaster, your task may not simply be to flee, but rather to gather more information related to the Disaster.
Mission description: Extract biological samples from Disaster creatures (0/10).
Eh?
A special precursor mission? This was certainly unexpected!
Fang Heng's heart skipped a beat.
Such missions were extremely rare. They usually required completing multiple precursor tasks before triggering the main mission. Sometimes, after finishing one or two precursor tasks with great effort, players would receive no rewards, not knowing what other missions were missing or how to trigger them. It often felt like a waste of time.
Even if luck was on their side and they completed everything, triggering the main mission, the difficulty of those main missions was usually incredibly high—almost impossible to complete. As a result, players often considered these types of missions to be a trap.
Fang Heng didn't think it was a big deal.
He could easily complete the mission as a side task.
He didn't care much about the main mission that might follow; he saw it more like a bonus. Even if no main mission was triggered later, he could still gather the samples and take them to Qiu Yaokang for research.
Besides, he had been planning to go check things out at the front lines anyway.
Fang Heng was curious about the Disaster creatures and how far their mutations had progressed, to the point where even Bone Dragons couldn't face them head-on.
"Kotal, I want to go to the front lines and see what's going on."
"What? Alone?"
Kotal froze for a moment, then quickly reacted, nodding, "Shall I go with you?"
"That works," Fang Heng replied. "You can help me with the translation if any problems arise. Don't worry, I'm not the type to risk my life unnecessarily."
As he spoke, Fang Heng summoned a flying Bone Dragon from the air, watching it slowly descend before leaping onto its back. He extended a hand toward Kotal.
"Hurry up, follow me!"
...
The Bone Dragon soared into the sky, carrying Fang Heng and Kotal as they accelerated toward the frontlines.
As they drew closer to the battle zone, Fang Heng looked down, squinting through the white fog that seemed to shroud the area below. In the distance, a mass of red shapes began to materialize, growing denser with every passing second.
What were those?
They were a bizarre life form, similar to the Disaster creatures Fang Heng had encountered before.
But this time, they were smaller—only about a third of their original size. The terrifying human-like faces they once had were now obscured by something even more unsettling.
No... that wasn't a mask!
Upon closer inspection, Fang Heng realized that the creatures had grown new exoskeletons.
Two rows of wings sprouted from beneath the armor, granting these Disaster creatures the ability to fly.
At this moment, the Disaster creatures were gathering in dense clusters in the low sky!
"Buzz...!"
The Disaster creatures quickly formed a swarm and charged toward a large group of skeletal creatures summoned by the Dark Clan, swarming over the undead in waves.
"Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!!"
Fang Heng's pupils constricted!
The Disaster creatures exploded upon coming into contact with the skeletal bones! The explosion created a visible corrosion effect that almost instantly devoured and eroded the bones completely!
"Boom!!!"
Immediately following, a second-tier explosion occurred, releasing waves of necromantic energy from the center of the blast.
Fang Heng controlled the Bone Dragon, hovering high in the sky outside the battlefield, looking down at the situation, his brows furrowed.
The Disaster creatures' forms had undergone a drastic change.
Not only had they gained the ability to fly, but they also now possessed a powerful self-destructive ability.
"From what I can see, the Disaster creatures' short-term damage output has greatly increased due to their proximity-based self-explosion. The explosion occurs in two stages: the first stage is physical damage, while the second stage is magical damage."
Fang Heng observed while quietly analyzing, "But they still haven't mastered ranged attack capabilities. That's still a weakness."
"Mm," Kotal nodded, also observing the situation, "Their self-destructive damage is very formidable, and even the elite Dark Clan warriors wouldn't dare to face it head-on. But just like you said, they lack ranged capabilities. We can keep our distance and use large-scale spells to wipe them out..."
"So it's very strange," he continued, "Why the frontline team retreated so decisively."
It seemed as though to validate what Kotal and Fang Heng had said, the mage team retreating from the back released their soul explosion skill at the massive gathering of Disaster creatures.
"Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!!!!"
The soul explosion detonated in the middle of the Disaster creatures.
"What?!"
After the first round of attacks, Kotal's pupils contracted sharply.
What was going on?
The mutated Disaster creatures completely ignored the Dark Clan mages' soul explosion attacks, seemingly unaffected by the spells. The only effect was that the blast waves from the soul explosion threw them back in large chunks.
Fang Heng observed from above and spoke in a deep voice, "There's something wrong with the armor patterns on the backs of their masks."
Upon hearing this, Kotal lowered his head to examine carefully, his brows furrowing tightly.
I see!
At the moment the soul explosion attack went off, the newly grown mask-like shell on the backs of the mutated Disaster creatures reflected an unusual gleam of light.
"It's like a counter-magic shield," Kotal analyzed. "And the defense level is high enough to completely block even soul explosion—a high-strength spell."
The necromancy mage team's series of area attacks only served to scatter the Disaster creatures, buying the Dark Clan more time to retreat.
Hmm?
Fang Heng sensed something and turned his head to the right.
"Whoosh!!"
On the right side of the battlefield, more than twenty Bone Dragons were flying through the air. The mutated Disaster creatures in the high sky noticed the targets, and immediately, a dense mass of them swooped down toward the Bone Dragon swarm.
"Roar!!!!"
Corrosive dragon's breath!
Before the Disaster creatures even got close, the Bone Dragons in the sky opened their massive jaws, and a stream of dragon's breath shot down toward the creatures below!